Bionicle: Matoran Adventures

"Game to avoid #384"

Now, I had always been around Legos since I was little, so they basically controlled my mind. Any time a new set or series came out, the voices in my head forced me to buy them. Now, I can ignore most of those voices, but one sneaked passed the screenings and into my mind. I looked at the game, listened to the voice, and bought the game. I turned it on, and I had fun... for three seconds. The Idea was a good one, the graphics were okay, the sound was mediocre, and the weapon was cool. That was probably the most positive Introduction for this game I could muster, so on to the Review!

Idea 5/10: A Lego-based platformer, mixed with dual-character action, with many different locations! Sounds Good? Well, that's what it's supposed to do. Unfortunately, each of these things has a flaw. The Lego-based part is purely characters, not items or anything. The dual character action is confusing at best, and useless. all it does is have you use one character for 99% of the time, and the other to open gates (I'm not kidding. That's all you use them for). Different locations eh? Meaning they used the exact same objectives, only in different directions! You used to go up, but now you go down!

Playability 4/10: No. Just no. The physics are horrible, your jumps kill you 50% of the time, the useless switching of characters... Please... Make it stop...

Graphics 7/10: What? Something okay in the Game? HALLELUJAH! The character sprites are good, and the enemies look like believable Lego creations. that's what they wanted... I think... The levels are okay, but too repetitive.

Sound 5/10: Okay! Sounds good! *five minutes later* Alright, it's kind of annoying. *five minutes later* No comment. I turned the volume off.

Replay value 2/10: After every level, you unlock a new character. Now, this I thought would be a good point, as I didn't want to be stuck with the same character forever. Well, it turns out, that to switch characters, you need to create a new file. You can only have two files at a time, and you need one to keep on going to progress throughout the game, and the other, you would need to keep on erasing it whenever you unlocked something new. Not fun.

Worth the Money? No: This is not a very good game. I would have only rented it if I knew how it played. Still, I bet there are some Lego-zombies out there who will fall in love with this game, as every game has at least one fan.

Overall Rating 4/10: I'm sorry, but this game did not make me happy. I came in, hoping for a great and innovative platformer, and came out unfulfilled. I hope that some of you who bought the game get a good deal at a used game dealer, and for those of you who still want it, even after this review, tread lightly, and jump carefully. It's easier to die than you think.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/04